Series 3 Episode 9 Unseen & Unheard
by matureskinsfan
Summary: This is my take on some of the scenes from the Twins episode 9 from, at various times, the POV of Emily, Naomi & Katie.I am trying to fill in the blanks left to our own imagination by the Skins writers. Please review! Sorry it's so long,got carried away!
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHOR'S NOTE!**

**This is my take on various scenes from Episode 9, from both Naomi's and Emily's point of view in turn. I'm trying to fill in some of the gaps left to our imagination by the brilliant Skins writing team. Please do review and let me know what you think! I'm writing this story at the same time as continuing the chapters of my s4 story as I want to switch between the two for variety!**

As I approached the steps leading up to the college entrance I was vaguely aware of some ridiculously loud music pumping out from some car that was passing close by. I thought it sounded like something by Lady Gaga but in all honesty I didn't really pay much attention to it. I was far more concerned with trying to stay upright in Katie's ludicrously high heels that she had insisted I wore.

I'd almost fallen over on my arse twice already since leaving home and I was longing to get into the exam room and just sit down. Plus, the short tight skirt I had somehow managed to force myself into to complete the disguise was making me feel both incredibly self-conscious and doubled up in agony.

How the fuck does Katie wear this stuff? I feel like a cheap little tart. Still, if I want to pull off this stunt I've got to look the part, haven't I. I've got to convince them I'm Katie or we'll both end up in the shit. Mind you, even if I do fool them into thinking I'm her and I actually get into the exam room, what the hell do I do then? If I'm pretending to be Katie do I deliberately fail the exam or do I revert back to Emily and do my best to pass it? After all, the chances of Katie passing her History exam were roughly somewhere between slim and none. Normally she can barely remember what happened last week let alone several fucking hundred years ago!'

As I entered the building and made my way slowly towards the registration desk where I knew Doug would be sitting, my hands started to get clammy and my throat became really dry. Get a grip, girl, I told myself, now is not the time to bottle it. Either go through with it or turn around and get the hell out of here!

But I knew I couldn't duck out of it now – I had promised Katie I would do the exam for her. She was so scared to leave the house because she said she looked terrible with that awful bandage and all those bruises. She had begged me to do this one thing for her and, because she was my sister and I loved her, I had agreed to do it for her. I would much rather have been spending the whole time with Naomi instead, chilling out with her somewhere, preferably in her bedroom. Just the thought of Naomi then brought a smile to my face as I began to imagine all the things I could be doing with her right now, particularly if her Mum was out which she often was!

I snapped myself out of my delicious daydream and forced myself to concentrate on what I had to do. The first task was to get past Doug but that turned out to be a piece of piss. He never had been able to tell me and Katie apart all year even though we dressed totally differently, sounded completely different and even looked quite different - if you really bothered to look closely. If I did get found out eventually I reckoned Doug should take a fair share of the blame for falling for one of the oldest tricks in the book!! He was totally taken in by the bandage which I had slaved over for ages to make look really convincing. That, along with more make up you could shake a stick at to make me look like Katie and to give the appearance of some really nasty bruising, made it dead easy for me to fool him.

I did have one hairy moment when I accidentally bumped into JJ in the corridor. He thought I was Katie though, so I reckoned I had got away with it and I sat down at my desk with increasing confidence and filled in Katie's name at the top of the paper. Just as well Katie wasn't sitting one of my exams for me, it occurred to me. The silly cow would probably have filled in her own name at the top!

Then just as the exam was about to start this note suddenly appeared in front of me. I read it and looked around in total horror only to see JJ smiling nervously at me from the next desk. 'You're Emily' the note had said and for one moment I had thought the game was up, that I was totally fucked. But JJ was no fool. He had worked out what was going on. I suppose I might have expected the one guy whose bed I had shared not so long ago to have been able to recognise close up the only girl he had slept with in his whole life!

After the exam was over I made my way over to Katie's locker and started to take out some stuff of hers that she wanted and put in my bag. I was feeling absolutely shattered, still living on the edge of my nerves and badly in need of a pick-me up. Then when I closed the locker shut there it was – my pick-me up, staring right at me from just a few inches away! Naomi!! She was looking as gorgeous and hot as ever and I felt my heart miss a few beats and my chest tighten as she smiled at me, admiring the handiwork on my face.

'Nice job,' she said approvingly, reaching her fingers up to the bandaged area to examine it closer.

'Don't!' I replied, smiling back at her and pushing her fingers away. 'Stop it! It took fucking ages!'

'Yeah well, I wish I had someone to pass my exams for me.'

But I knew she didn't really mean that. She didn't need anyone to take her exams for her. Naomi was clever and bright and she worked hard – when she knew she had to. In fact, she was the complete opposite of Katie in that respect.

We spoke briefly about the night of the barbecue in the woods, the cause of why I was standing here right now made up to look like Katie. We both agreed it had been an eventful evening and she cracked some joke about adultery making a party go with a swing.

It was only meant as a throw away remark, light-hearted, not intended to be hurtful. It was like so many of Naomi's trademark wisecracks and sarcastic one-liners which I'd always loved seeing her come out with when it was Cook or someone else on the receiving end. But this was different. It did upset me, even if only very briefly and I didn't attempt to hide it.

I told her that it wasn't funny what she'd just said and that Effy had really hurt Katie which I knew more than anyone else to be the truth. I'd witnessed at close hand over the last few days how withdrawn and depressed Katie had become. I'd watched like a helpless spectator as her usual overpowering self-confidence had seemed to completely evaporate before my eyes. The loud, brash, in your face Katie was no more – in its place was a just a hollow shell of her former self, a shell into which she retreated more and more as each day passed by..

But then no sooner had Naomi stung me with her little jibe about the barbecue when she started flirting with me, telling me how nice I looked wearing Katie's clothes – from the neck down! I couldn't help breaking out into a big grin at her typically cheeky comment and that momentary awkwardness I had just started to feel towards her quickly evaporated in a puff of smoke as I allowed myself to be flattered by her attentions.

But then just as I was starting to let all my feelings for her wash all over me again like a huge tidal wave, she came out with the thunderbolt that almost knocked me right off my feet. I swear my heart stopped for the briefest of seconds, all time seemed to stand still around me as her next words echoed around in my head like she was screaming them right into my ear.

'**I think I'm going away for the summer**.'

Not 'I 'm thinking of going away for the summer but only if _you'll_ come with me.' Nor even 'I was thinking of going away for the summer but now I'd rather stay here and spend it with you.' There appeared to be no room for _me_ in the simple statement of intention she had come out with. I didn't seem to be part of her decision-making process.

There were so many thoughts and questions whirring around in my head once she'd said that but I was obviously so confused, so bewildered by the message she appeared to be giving out that all I could bring myself to say was 'Oh.' It may have sounded nonchalant, casual, and almost indifferent to an innocent bystander but it concealed such a chilling fear of what might follow that I dared not put into words.

What she then went on to say felt like a dagger being plunged into my heart. She wanted to go abroad, Spain or Cyprus, by herself to spend some time alone doing some thinking - by herself!! So I was to be totally put to one side, was I, left to fend for myself while she ran away, again, God knows where and for how long, to do some thinking? Thinking that clearly couldn't be done with me in the same country as her.

I asked the only question that could be asked in that situation, the only question that deserved to be asked, that anyone in the world would have asked had they been me.

'About what?'

I don't know if I expected her to give me a straight answer. Maybe I thought she wouldn't give any explanation at all but would just mumble something vague like 'Just things, stuff, you know.' What I wasn't prepared for in any way was her immediate reply, so instantaneous it was almost as if she had rehearsed exactly what she was going to say if I was to ask her that question.

'_Let's just be friends, OK_?'

Just five words. That's all it took to turn my world upside down there and then. I felt an icy coldness suddenly spread right through every part of my body. It seemed to have numbed all my senses. I shot out an instant response like a reflex action, the only thing I could think of in a split second and I delivered it with all the calmness and composure that I could muster to hide the depths of confusion and misery I was feeling deep down inside.

'We say that, don't we?' I made sure I never took my eyes off her as I said it.

'Yeah. Have a good summer.' But the desperately nervous half smile she gave as she said her final goodbye and turned to walk away betrayed her discomfort, her unease and, so I thought, or maybe just hoped and prayed, the utter lack of conviction in everything she had just been saying.

As I watched her slowly walk away from me, perhaps never to return, certainly not as the same Naomi, _my_ Naomi, with whom I'd spent the most amazing nine months of my life so far, I couldn't stop the one simple truth from escaping my parched lips and hanging in the air between us like a cloud of dust.

'I'll miss you.'

It stopped her instantly in her tracks. She bowed her head, gave out the heaviest and saddest sigh I'd ever heard her give and shook her head gently from side to side. I was afraid she would just carry on walking or, even worse, break into a run to put as much distance as she could between herself and the pain and sorrow she knew I must be feeling. Instead she turned smartly on her heels and came back towards me, her eyes fixed on my bewildered expression. What was she going to come out with now?

I didn't quite know what to expect, but I was hardly prepared for what happened next as she pushed me back against the lockers and started kissing me passionately and repeatedly, with a desperate longing that I eagerly returned. My heart started leaping for joy again after having only seconds ago plumbed the depths of despair.

All the while she was kissing me she kept crying softly 'I can't stand it. I just can't!'

In return all I could whisper back to comfort her, or perhaps in reality it was largely to encourage her to carry on kissing me, was 'It's OK, it's OK.' I clung on to her like I was clinging on to the rest of my life as I lost all sense of time and place.

Not for the first time I was having trouble getting my head round Naomi's sudden mood swings. How could she switch so easily, so effortlessly from coldness, aloofness, even downright indifference to unbridled passion and joy unconfined? I was so confused about whether she really wanted me or not but, frankly, at this precise moment I was just happy to feel her pressed right up against me and smothering me with her kisses.

I think we might have carried on holding on to each other and kissing like that all day if we hadn't suddenly become aware of the sound of voices rapidly approaching from around the corridor. We reluctantly broke apart just as Freddie and a couple of other guys came into full view. We looked at each other and we both knew we had to get out of there; we had to get right away from everyone else and find our own little private space. We needed to be alone to explore and ultimately satisfy the burning fires of passion that were raging within us


	2. Chapter 2

We both knew where we were heading even though we had barely said a word to each other since we flew out of college at breakneck speed five minutes ago. After all, there were only two places to date where we had made love, my bedroom and in the forest down by the lake. Since neither of us had our bikes with us, that only left my room.

Sometimes the slow build up to an eagerly awaited event, the very anticipation itself of delights to come can heighten, to an almost unbearable degree, the excitement of the moment when it finally arrives. This was not one of those occasions, however, for putting off the moment. I knew I couldn't possibly wait a minute more than absolutely necessary to get my hands on Emily's gorgeous body again and lose myself completely in her.

I knew my Mum was out this afternoon. She had mentioned something about it this morning, had told me where she was going and what she was doing but I didn't pay much attention at the time. I was just grateful that we would have the place to ourselves for a few hours. Being totally alone in the house, we wouldn't have to worry about being overheard in the throes of passion by Mum downstairs. Mind you, we'd gotten quite adept at muffling the sounds of our ecstasy with a well placed pillow or duvet cover!

By the time we reached my house I already had the front door key in my hand. Seeing how clearly desperate I was to get inside set Emily off on a fit of the giggles. Her giggling was always so infectious that it never failed to set me off as well so as we practically fell in through the front door we were both virtually in hysterics. We raced each other up the stairs and threw open the door to my bedroom, chucking our bags onto the floor without caring where they landed.

Emily pushed me up against the door that I had slammed shut behind me and, putting her arms around my neck, pressed her moist lips against mine in a feverish and long drawn out kiss. I could sense she was re-creating what I had done to her by the lockers and, just as she had done then, I was only too eager to melt into her embrace and give myself up to her lips. Her tongue was sliding in and out of my mouth with long slow movements and I responded with my own as our breathing became heavier and our hands clawed at each other's bodies.

I pulled my mouth away from hers and started to gently kiss her neck, with very soft deliberate kisses which quickly produced a series of breathless moans from the redhead. She in turn had slipped both her hands down my back and inside my jumper and top, caressing me up and down before coming to rest at my bra which she begun to undo.

My breathing was getting heavier, my heart was thumping so hard I felt it would burst out of my quivering body and my legs were feeling distinctly wobbly, so much so that at one point I thought I was going to collapse. I stopped kissing her neck and ears and returned my gaze to her face. She smiled at me with those big brown eyes of hers which seemed to be screaming 'Please make love to me!' I didn't need a second invitation.

I pulled back from her just a little to start hurriedly taking off my clothes and she immediately followed suit. It became a race between us to see who could get stripped off first. Emily just beat me to it and threw herself onto the bed. I joined her seconds later, diving on top of her and almost crushing her as every part of our bodies pushed forwards to meet one another.

Usually it was Emily who took the lead or at least made the first few nervous, tentative steps when we had had sex previously. I had always been happy for her to start the ball rolling as I still felt uncertain of myself, still needed convincing in my own mind that I really knew what to do to make her happy. Sure, I was a hell of a lot more confident than I had been that unforgettable first time in the forest, but then that wasn't really difficult.

But for some reason, right now, as we clung on to each other, feverishly swapping passionate embraces, kisses, caresses and all manner of groans and moans, I felt an overwhelming need to take control for once. I was in prime position to do so, having pinned Emily onto the bed beneath me and for once she didn't seem to want to roll me over and take control herself.

'Let **me** make love to** you**' I heard myself whispering softly into her ear and I looked lovingly into her wide open eyes for a sign that this was okay with her. She nodded and smiled hugely back at me, reaching forward just enough to kiss me so sweetly and tenderly on the lips that she gave me yet another layer of goose bumps to go on top of all the other layers she'd already given me since we'd entered my room.

Breathing heavily and trying desperately to steady myself, I started planting a trail of soft, warm kisses over her smooth skin, working my down her trembling young body. I lingered at every possible opportunity, exploring every square inch of her with my fingers and my lips: her face, neck and shoulders to begin with, then moving on to her breasts which brought about an increase in her breathing, squirming and moaning which seriously turned me on even more.

After working her up into a frenzy of pleasure like this, I then moved on downwards, pausing only to lick her belly button for a few brief sweet moments. Whilst I made this very slow and deliberate journey down her trembling body, Emily's hands were stroking my hair and pressing my face down against her, pushing herself up to meet my lips and hands as they ran riot over her.

When I finally made it down to the level of her hips, I felt her tense even more acutely as her breathing became ever more rapid and irregular. I teased her a little by kissing her all along both thighs but just stopping short of where she was clearly longing for me to go.

'Oh God, Naomi, please….. I need to feel your tongue right now… please!'

How could I possibly resist such a request? I buried my face between her legs and started slowly licking up and down her already soaking wet mound before flicking my warm and equally moist tongue greedily backwards and forwards against her clit. This promptly forced a succession of deep moans, almost screams, from her as she began to writhe around uncontrollably on the bed, her nails now digging into my shoulders.

I was now feeling a huge surge of confidence rush through me as I revelled in slowly bringing Emily to the brink of ecstasy. This was what she had done to me many times before but it was probably the first time that_ I_ had felt totally confident in what I was doing to her. Her continual sighs, moans and gasps of encouragement gave me a confidence I had never enjoyed previously in bed with her, despite the fact she had always insisted she loved what I did to her.

A few minutes later I was bringing a writhing, groaning, trembling Emily to a shuddering climax which left both of us emotionally spent in a heap on the bed, curled up against each other. After a minute or two during which neither of us had the strength to speak, Emily opened her eyes and looked at me with the broadest smile I had ever seen. Reaching her hand up to my face to stroke first my cheek and then my hair, she said with obvious feeling,

'OH MY GOD! WOW!! That was fucking unbelievable. Where did that come from?!'

I smiled shyly back at her and looked quickly away, feeling a bit embarrassed at her reaction, though secretly ecstatic at the same time.

'I don't know. I guess…. I thought it was about time I started taking the lead a bit more.'

'Jesus! You certainly did that alright. You pushed all the right buttons at all the right times! You can definitely do that again!' Emily leaned forward, curled an arm around my neck and kissed me deliciously, pushing her warm wet tongue deep into my mouth. I accepted it longingly and returned her tongue with mine as we basked in the self-satisfied afterglow of our passionate exchanges.

We eventually resumed our positions curled up against one another, seemingly content to let the lazy peacefulness of the afternoon drift over us like a gentle warm breeze. I don't know how long we lay there like that, simply enjoying each other's warmth without feeling the need to do anything more energetic than a bit of gentle stroking of arms, shoulders and neck.

It was Emily who broke the silence finally, asking me if I was OK. I said that I was. But in truth I was feeling rather more self-conscious and embarrassed than I had been earlier about having let myself go the way I just did. I don't know where that unexpected rush of confidence and bravado had come from but I felt it had somewhat evaporated since then. I was back to my normal uncertain and confused self, not quite coming to terms with the depth of my feelings for Ems and afraid to acknowledge what it might truly say about the person I thought I was. Perhaps what I had been thinking was written all over my face and prompted Emily's question.

Emily was suddenly talking about her and Katie, about how they always had been forced to do everything together, ever since they were little. She envied me for having the luxury of my own room where nobody was allowed to enter without my express permission. I could understand that – I always had this one place of refuge where I could hide away from all the horrors of my life and retreat into my protective shell until I was ready to come out and face the world again. I couldn't imagine how awful it must be for Emily still to be sharing a bedroom with her sister at her age, especially with a complete cow of a sister like Katie. I know I couldn't have put up with it.

'No secrets, there's no point,' she said with a trace of undeniable sadness and frustration in her voice.

'And what about this one?' I asked her. She didn't answer straight away. She just carried on softly stroking the back of my leg and I wondered what that silence meant. Surely she hadn't told Katie about us?! An icy chill ran up my spine as the thought of Katie knowing the truth about our relationship and the fear of how she might use that knowledge nearly made me break out into a cold sweat.

The silence and my current train of thought about Katie were broken by a simple statement by Emily.

'Naomi……I want to tell people.'

'That you're gay?' I guessed that was what she meant.

'I want to tell people about us.'

I was gobsmacked and couldn't utter a word. I wasn't anywhere near ready for that, not even close and panic started to grip my whole body even as I continued to lie motionless next to her, wondering what she might say next. How could she top that?

'Come to the College Ball with me, like we're………together.'

My response was instantaneous. 'I don't want to do that,' I sighed in a flat expressionless voice which I hoped hid the anxiety which was rapidly rising within me.

'Why not?' she asked, as I turned around to face her, propping myself up on one side.

'Em, it's nobody's business, 'I began to explain before she cut in right across me, her tone noticeably more urgent and insistent than before.

'Why? Who cares what other people think…?'

This time it was my turn to cut her short in mid-sentence.

'Emily! I'm not like you…….I'm not sure like you are.'

Fuck me, wasn't that the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I didn't really mean for it to come out as harshly as that but, there it was, out in the open in all its glory. I was confused and unsure about what or who I was and I certainly wasn't ready for anyone else to know. I lay back on the bed glancing up at her but not holding her gaze for very long before averting my eyes. I was beginning to feel very uneasy about where this might be going.

She asked me what I wasn't sure about and when she suggested it was fine if I liked boys too I felt like I was trapped in a corner with nowhere left to run. I lashed out and said something stupid, I know that now, but at the time I just wasn't thinking straight. I knew the effect it would have on her as soon as I said but by then it was too late, the damage was done.

'Maybe I only like boys……..apart from you.'

Emily's reaction, although completely predictable and understandable, still cut me to the core and left me feeling wounded, bleeding profusely on the inside. I was struggling to hold myself together.

'That's fucking great, 'she spat out as she threw herself back down onto the bed and turned her head away from me 'You're so in touch with yourself, aren't you?!' She was clearly one seriously pissed off redhead and I was feeling very close to tears.

She made one last effort to make me change my mind and pleaded with me to go to the ball with her.

I bit my lip, shook my head and silently choked back the tears that I could feel welling up inside. I knew I was being a coward, I knew I was letting her down but I just couldn't go through with it. I was afraid of the thought of the whole school looking at me, pointing at the two of us and hearing the whispers all around us. 'They're gay, you know! What? Are you sure? Well look at the pair of them, they must be. They've come together as a couple.'

That was enough for Ems. She jumped out of bed and began to put the rest of her clothes on to go, while I just lay there, barely able to breathe, begging her not to do that.. This wasn't how our relationship was supposed to work. Normally it was me who did all the walking out and running away, not her! I didn't know what to do in this situation with the roles reversed. I was completely out of my depth emotionally. I couldn't even pretend to myself that I was in control of my feelings.

Emily came out with a couple of final parting shots before she left, just to help me to twist the dagger more firmly into my heart.

'I'm not your fucking experiment!' was one of them. Yep, that was a pretty good one, I had to admit. But even that was topped by the next one. 'I'm tired, so sick and tired of it. Still holding hands through a cat flap, aren't we?'

There was hurt, misery and utter dejection displayed all over her face. I could tell she was waiting for me to say something, anything, but I was struck dumb. I just kept looking at her, my eyes heavy with tears that I only just managed to hold back, swallowing hard, biting my lip, praying that she would change her mind and stay.

But she wished me a good time in Cyprus, turned and went out of the door.

I stared at the closed door for some time, hoping Ems would come back in after a few seconds like she did the first time she came round to my room. But after a while I realised she wasn't coming back and then I just couldn't hold myself in any longer. I burst into tears and my whole body shook violently with the force of my sobbing. I threw myself back against my pillow and wept uncontrollably for what seemed like hours. For the first time in my entire life I experienced a moment when I truly felt like I wanted to die.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note**

**Just a shortish chapter this time, at least by my standards! It's the bus stop scene told from Emily's POV. Please keep the reviews coming, I really appreciate them! The next chapter will probably be the Katie/Emily argument in their bedroom. **

Somehow I found my way to the bus stop, God alone knows how. My mind was in a complete whirl and I was barely conscious of where I was going, so I must have reached the stop by auto-pilot. I stood there shivering like crazy as the cold wind whipped across my body and made my teeth chatter with its icy chill. My bare feet were themselves rapidly becoming like blocks of ice but that was nothing compared to the coldness and emptiness I was feeling inside. There were a few other people at the stop, I think, but I scarcely noticed them. I was totally wrapped up in myself and my own broken heart.

I couldn't stop the tears from flowing. They ran unchecked down my cheeks and dripped onto my neck and shoulders even though I tried several times to dry my eyes with my hands. It was all to no avail – I couldn't control my emotions as they held me in a vice-like grip. An hour ago I had been so incredibly happy and now I felt like I was in the deepest pit of despair. Is this what love is all about? Swinging violently and without any warning from one extreme emotion to another? I didn't think I could deal with love if that's how it would always turn out..

I couldn't get of my mind that image of Naomi just sitting in the bed looking at me without saying a word as I got dressed and had my final say before leaving. I gave her plenty of opportunities to stop me from going. It wouldn't have taken much; just a few well chosen words would have been enough. 'Don't go, Em, please, I love you!' That would have done it! That would have made me sit down next to her and try to resolve the issue. 'Em, I do feel the same way about you as you do about me, honestly, but I'm just not quite ready yet to go public.' Even that would have made me think twice about walking out on her. Anything, except the deafening silence that she came out with.

These last few months during which I'd got close to Naomi had been the happiest days of my life. They were the only times when I hadn't felt all alone and almost invisible, despite having a twin sister and two parents who loved me. Now, standing at this bus stop, waiting for the bus to take me back home to that family who barely even noticed me half the time, I felt completely on my own all over again.

Suddenly, as these desperate thoughts were flying around my head and increasing my pain and misery, I heard a voice call my name and I looked round, startled. Thomas was standing next to me, looking at me up and down with a puzzled and concerned expression. He asked me where my shoes were but I found it difficult to get the words out, I just mumbled something incoherent to start with before finally managing to say that I couldn't find them. I knew that sounded ridiculous but then the whole situation seemed ludicrous to me.

He immediately offered to let me have his trainers, smiling warmly at me as he took them off and handed them to me. I tried to refuse but he wouldn't hear of it, even claiming bare feet made it easier for him to run. Given the state I was so obviously in, still crying and shivering like it had gone out of fashion, he must have been wondering what the hell had happened to me but he didn't mention anything or ask any questions. He even proceeded to give me one of the many coats he was wearing, helping me to put it on, still smiling at me as he did so.

'All fixed up now, yes?' he smiled broadly and that just set me off into floods of tears once more. I was anything but fixed up. In fact I was very much unfixed, undone and unsorted. As I cried into his comforting shoulders, I couldn't help myself from looking up at him and asking him the question that had been on my lips for the last half hour.

'What do you do when someone you love lets you down, really fucks you up?'

Thomas's reply, when it came after a short period of serious reflection, so it seemed, was short, to the point and utterly brutal in its simplicity.

'You must try to stop loving them.'

'Is that possible?' I fixed on his face, desperately searching for confirmation of what I already knew the answer to be and again he waited a moment, seemingly lost in thought, before delivering the expected response.

'No, I don't think so.'

So I would have to find another way of dealing with the situation with Naomi since not loving her any more was clearly not going to be a realistic option. How could I stop loving someone who had made me happier than I had ever thought possible, who had made me believe in myself for the first time and who had helped me, without even knowing it herself, to understand who I was and what I wanted in my life?

Perhaps it was the very realisation of all of this, crystallising in my mind so clearly that it shocked me, that made me want to open up to Thomas. He had shown himself to be a true friend. He hadn't questioned me or judged me as I stood there in front of him. He had simply been open, honest and kind and for that he deserved that I be open and honest with him. Fuck the consequences, I thought.

'I'm gay, Thomas,' I said, swallowing hard and letting out the hugest of sighs. Not for the first time tonight I scrutinised his face intently for signs of his reaction to what I imagined would be earth shattering news to him. I mentally prepared myself for expressions of amazement, confusion, even embarrassment but would never have expected in a million years the actual reaction he gave instantly. He accepted my confession with an almost routine nonchalance, even indifference as if I had just told him the most obvious and unimportant piece of information in the history of the universe.

'That's fine. Shall we get a taxi as I don't think this bus is going to come soon? Besides, my feet are extremely cold.'

I couldn't help bursting out into flood of tears again and I slumped forward into his arms for support, emotional as well as physical. I didn't know if it was the shock of seeing how relaxed and cool he was about me being gay, the realisation of the enormity of what I had just done or even just the biting wind whipping up around my face. It was probably a combination of all of them, to be honest, with just a side helping of the image of Naomi popping into my head right then for good measure.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note**

**This is my take on the 'coming out' dinner scene in the Fitch household, as described from ****Katie****'s POV. I really wanted to have a crack at writing a scene through **_**her **_**eyes for a change. Please let me know what you think, I'd really love to hear how good or bad a job you think I did!**

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We were all sitting down at the table having dinner like the one big happy family we are, all of us except of course for my weirdo sister Emily who, what a surprise , hadn't come home yet. In fact I hadn't seen her all day since she dragged her sorry arse into college this morning and sat my poxy History exam for me. Jesus, did she take some persuading to do that!

I mean, I pointed out to her the bleeding obvious which was that I was never going to pass that exam myself, seeing as how I can't stand History. Fuck knows why I chose to do it for A level in the first place! I mean, what bloody use is History going to be to me after I leave college? It's not like I'm going to become a teacher or work in a boring museum so what's the fucking point of it? But I knew Miss Smart Arse Clever Clogs would be able to pass the exam with her eyes closed so it was obvious what we had to do. I knew none of those dumb ass teachers would be able to spot the difference if I could get her to dress up and look vaguely like me.

Mind you, even when she'd put on some of my stuff this morning I was shitting myself that she would fuck it all up as she still managed to look like a complete dork in my gear. Ems has got absolutely no idea how to wear decent clothes – whatever she puts on, whether it's classy stuff like mine or the crap that she normally wears, she still looks like she's picked out the clothes blindfolded and put them on in the dark.

Anyway, it's been hours now since the exam finished and she's still not back. Not that I needed two guesses to work out where the hell she's been this afternoon – with that lezza bitch Naomi, of course! Christ, what the fuck does Ems think she's playing at! I can't believe how she follows that cow around like a pathetic little dog, hoping to get a pat on the head or a biscuit every now and then. She's just so embarrassing, it's not true!

Still, at least she's hanging on to that bitch's coat tails now instead of mine. At last I can do what the hell I want without always having to be looking out for her like I've had to do for the last ten years!

Jesus, this soup is fucking disgusting! What the hell's in it? It looks like someone's just thrown up in the bowl and it tastes like it, too. Ever since Dad started up his bloody fitness club we've had to put up with crap health food at meal times. It's become an absolute obsession with him. Mum only goes along with it 'coz she's terrified to make a fuss and believes all the rubbish he comes out with about it being good for us. I can tell James thinks the soup's shit as well; he's been pulling faces like he's been given some disgusting medicine to swallow.

Dad had been droning on for ages about some guy at his gym who couldn't do five press-ups or whatever they're called without throwing up. I knew how that guy felt - you wouldn't have got me doing any of that shit! What a waste of effort! We all mumbled our agreement with whatever Dad was saying just to try and shut him up but it didn't work. When he's on a roll with one of his health and fitness sermons you just can't stop him. He asked Mum what the soup was because he thought it was great and she said it was artichoke and beetroot. I nearly puked on the spot and I saw James pull another face. Fuck me, what are we going to get next? Turnip and Brussel sprouts?

As usual Dad then encouraged me to come out with his favourite saying 'Don't get fit, get Fitch' which of course is a pathetic play on our name and the slogan for his stupid gym. God, how we have to humour him sometimes! Fortunately the increasing tedium of Dad's personal fitness commercial was broken up by James who moaned that he wanted fish and chips and said the soup tasted like 'bollocky wankshite' which I have to admit almost made me piss myself laughing. I just managed not to choke but Mum and Dad were really shocked to hear him swear like that. If only they knew the little shit like Emily and I did!

Having already dug a big hole for himself James then went on to throw himself in it by saying that Mrs McPherson, his best mate's Mum, had told him that swearing, in the right context, is 'fucking A'. Once again I nearly burst out laughing. Our little brother may be a total pain in the arse wanker most of the time but every now and then he does provide some great entertainment. This was one of those occasions.

Dad naturally enough blew his top and ordered him to do ten reps on the naughty bar, which was this ridiculous exercise bar Dad put up in the kitchen doorway some time ago which he used to punish James whenever he did something naughty. James stomped over to the bar in a right tantrum and began his punishment, which was bloody hilarious. He was about half way through the reps when we heard a key in the door. Emily came in and joined us in the kitchen just as James collapsed on to the floor in agony.

As Emily sat down I could see right away that she looked like shit, like she'd either been dragged through a hedge backwards or been in some sort of fight. Her hair was all over the place, her make-up was smudged and she had streaks all over her face from where she looked like she'd been crying. Her clothes, that is, MY FUCKING CLOTHES, were a mess and she seemed in a really foul mood. I had a bad feeling about what was going to come next and I stared at her intently for some clues as to what had gone on but she blanked me.

Mum was shocked by her appearance and predictably started cross-examining her. .

'What have you been doing!?' she asked Emily, and her concern came over loud and clear in her voice.

I had a pretty good idea what she'd been doing or at least who she'd been with but I said nothing. I was just waiting to see what Ems said before I decided whether or not to jump in. Ems just said 'Nothing' but Mum obviously didn't believe her. Hardly surprising! People who've been doing nothing don't tend to come home looking like that.

Mum told Ems she looked like she'd been fighting but Ems denied it and then asked Mum to leave her alone. NOT CLEVER! As if that was going to stop Mum asking any more questions! Why the fuck couldn't my dumb sister have thought up some plausible story to explain how she looked?! I could see I might have to get her out of the shit if she carried on any longer with these crap answers. Then it started getting really awkward when Mum asked her if it was a boy that had upset her by roughing her up. I immediately looked across at Ems and saw that she was about to answer that. I started to panic at what she was going to say and decided to get in first.

'Look, Mum, I don't think she wants to talk about it!' I didn't want her to talk about it either, not in front of Mum and Dad. I had got plenty I wanted to say to her myself but not here and definitely not now. But Mum wasn't going to be stopped and carried on with this idea that Ems has been roughed up by some boy and insisted that Ems told her about it. I held my breath and felt my stomach start churning as Emily opened her mouth to answer Mum. Surely Ems couldn't possibly be that fucking stupid, could she? What would be the point?

'It wasn't a boy,' she began and I knew I had to dive in quick before she carried on any further.

'There, see, so let's just leave it,' I interrupted, whilst staring at Ems furiously, trying to get her to shut the fuck up, without letting Mum see me. But Ems cut right across me and told us it was a girl.

Dad, who throughout all these exchanges hadn't said a bloody word, decided it was time he stuck his oar in and commented that it wasn't very ladylike for Ems to be fighting with a girl. Christ! Since when had she even remotely looked or acted like a lady, I couldn't help thinking after he said that. But then Emily's next remark, directed at Dad and delivered with unmistakeable contempt, had all the effect of a bomb dropping on the house and made us all temporarily speechless.

'No Dad, I've been _making love_ to a girl! …….OK? Everyone satisfied? Mouths dropped wide open, eyes started bulging in utter disbelief, and intakes of breath were clearly audible. Time had stopped. The world as we knew it had officially come to an end. My sister had gone absolutely off her fucking rocker! Instinctively, like a drowning man desperately clutching for the smallest of straws to hold on to for dear life, I blurted out 'She's such a liar! Don't listen to her!' But it was too little, too late. Ems couldn't be stopped now, she was on a mission and the mission was to screw up this entire family.

'Her name's Naomi. She's rather beautiful. ….. So I was nailing her.'

More stunned silence, more expressions of disbelief and confusion from Mum and Dad. Then after what seemed like an eternity but was probably only a few seconds, Dad started to smile broadly and laugh, saying

'OK. I get it. Nice one. Ha, ha, ha. Had me going there! Very funny! I get it. I've got to mind my own business. Fair enough. Nice! Very convincing.'

With that he got up and started to make for the door, still laughing at what he preferred to think was Emily's brilliant sense of humour, while Mum continued to look at Emily in total shock and amazement. Ems of course couldn't just leave it there, could she? Oh no!

The stupid cow had to make one last attempt to get them to them take her seriously, or at least make Dad take her seriously. It was pretty obvious to me that Mum's complete silence suggested that she didn't think that Emily was joking at all, unlike Dad. But then Dad had always believed exactly what he wanted to believe when it came to me and Emily. It had always been much harder to pull the wool over Mum's eyes. She was no fool; more's the pity right now.

After Dad left the room, Ems just looked at me with a blank, almost lifeless expression on her face and then got up and went upstairs, leaving me to face the music with Mum. Thanks, little sister! Thanks a fucking million! That's another fine mess you've got yourself into that I would have to try and dig you out of. And all for what? For that fucking bleach blond, up herself, toffee-nosed lezza bitch? I couldn't wait to get upstairs and give her hell over that ridiculous scene she'd just pulled on us all


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note**

**This chapter is written from Naomi's POV and takes up the story of the twins' episode from where chapter 2 left off with Emily walking out on Naomi. Thanks so much for all your reviews, please keep them coming!**

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I must have eventually dozed off at some point that evening because I woke up with a start and a splitting headache. I had no idea how long I'd been out for and equally not a clue what might have woken me up. I looked at my watch through puffed up, heavy, bleary eyes and just about made out that it was nearly half past eleven. I'd obviously managed to cry myself to sleep for a good few hours but I could hardly claim I felt any better for it.

As I sat there stretched out in my bed, still stark naked from my afternoon with Emily, it struck me that I had probably cried more in these last few months than I had in the past six or seven years put together. Those people who said that 'love hurts' certainly knew what they were talking about, I thought. Yet paradoxically this period of my life in which I had burst into tears more frequently than at any other time had contained some of the happiest and the most exhilarating moments I'd ever experienced.

I was sure I had cried all I was capable of crying that day. I instinctively thought of Emily leaving the room earlier and it wasn't the feelings of despair and desolation that rose up inside me, it was anger and frustration. Anger and frustration at myself for being so weak and feeble. What had happened to the old Naomi who didn't give a shit what other people thought about her? Where had she gone? Who was this new Naomi who seemed terrified of her own shadow, let alone the opinions of other people?

It had never bothered me in the slightest when Katie had thought I was gay and called me a fucking lezza in front of all the others, had it? In fact I used to enjoy playing up to her about it, taking the piss out of her by pretending that I'd start on her if she wasn't careful. I remembered how amused Effy when I did that and how pleased I was with myself at seeing Katie's shocked expression. Of course back then I didn't feel the same way about Ems as I did now. But what I did and said at the start of the year was largely about me showing that I couldn't be messed about by anyone, especially a superficial, vacuous, silly tart like Katie who was only capable of pulling completely brain-dead no-hopers like Danny, the crap footballer.

_Back then I didn't feel the same way about Ems as I did now._

That statement started crashing around in my head as if frantically searching for a place to settle itself down for the night. What was more important to me now? What I felt about Emily or what other people thought about me? What was really going to hurt me the most? What would make me feel sadder, emptier and lonelier than I had ever known before? Losing Ems for ever or having to front up Katie, Cook and the rest of my friends, not to mention the whole of college?

I instantly knew the answer to my own question almost before I'd posed it. Besides, I knew I could easily shrug off the small-minded, homophobic reactions of the likes of Katie Fitch. I even reckoned I would get Cook's respect – after all he had said there had to be a good reason why I wouldn't fuck him that time in the classroom, because he thought I was clever. Being in love with a girl would certainly constitute a bloody good reason in my book! The others in our little group would all probably be fine with it, I reckoned, and even if they felt a bit uncomfortable with it they wouldn't give us a hard time anyway. As for everyone else at college, well I didn't know any of them much and didn't particularly care for them either so their opinions about Ems & I didn't matter a damn.

What had I actually been afraid of, anyway, if I was going to be brutally honest? What is it really an intimate, emotional relationship with **another girl** or was it a close relationship with _anyone_? For years I had refused to allow myself to experience any feelings or to make an emotional connection with anybody. I was convinced that to do so would expose me to the usual petty jealousies, frustrations and disappointments that I observed constantly in the relationships of others around me. I used to feel superior to them all because I would never allow myself to be so vulnerable. I was stronger and tougher mentally as a person than my contemporaries for making myself an island whose privacy and security no outsider could ever threaten.

But at what price had I achieved that state of invincibility and impenetrability? I knew deep down inside the answer to that. It had come at the cost of any real chance of true happiness and contentment. By refusing to run the risk of getting hurt by anyone I had closed off the possibility of being made happy by someone also. How long can any person live in splendid isolation from the rest of the world?

If we didn't need other people in our life to touch us, move us, make us laugh, smile and cry, them what was the point of living at all? Sure, my relationship with Emily had made me more confused, tearful and hesitant than at any other time in my teenage years. It had also brought me days, even entire weeks, of such joy, fun and laughter that I wouldn't have missed for the world. Did I seriously want to turn my back on all that in order to maintain some misplaced sense of self-respect, pride and identity?

The more I reasoned with myself calmly, logically and rationally, the more clearly I was able to see things. Thinking back a few hours I could see I wasn't remotely capable of thinking straight after Ems had walked out on me There was no room for clear-headed reasoning at that moment – raw emotion and blind panic needed to work their way through and out of my system before there was any hope of facing up to my fears and staring the truth squarely in the face.

As I sat there, gaining enough confidence finally to begin to feel pleased with myself that I had been able to work all that out, I longed for Emily to be with me now so I could tell her how sorry I was that I had made such an arse of myself. I needed to wrap my arms around her and whisper softly in her ear that I loved her and that, YES, I WOULD GO TO THE BALL WITH HER!

I was conscious that my headache seemed to have miraculously disappeared along with my clouded judgement. I felt a rush of strength and confidence surge through me as I resolved to go and see Emily first thing tomorrow morning to tell her about my change of heart. I would have gone over to her place right now if it wasn't already so late in the evening.

I began to imagine what her reaction would be when she saw me standing on the doorstep tomorrow morning. Would she play hard to get, would she string me along for a while to test the strength of my resolve? Or would she throw herself into my arms and smother me with kisses like I hoped she would? I had no way of knowing. I just prayed to God I wouldn't be too late, that she hadn't given up on me for good, and that she was still willing to give me one last chance. After all, she'd stuck by me until now despite the countless times when I'd spurned her advances or ran away from her. I immediately corrected myself sharply. When I ran away from _myself_, that is.

I closed my eyes and conjured up images of Emily tearfully forgiving me and of us making up here in bed again later in the day. My breathing soon became heavier; I started to feel a warm tingle shoot up and down my spine and instinctively my hands began to wander all over my body, lightly caressing my skin on which goose bumps had quickly begun to form as the images of Emily grew stronger and clearer in my mind. I had a desperate, urgent need to unleash my imagination to its fullest extent.

Fifteen minutes later, after I had, at least to some degree, satisfied the burning desires and relieved the sexual frustrations that had slowly been building up inside me, I drifted slowly off to sleep again. The bed felt horribly cold and empty without Emily lying beside me as I had become so accustomed to, our bodies wrapped around each other for greater warmth and intimacy. Nonetheless I comforted myself with dreamy, romantic thoughts of the next day which brought a lazy smile to my face as I slipped gradually into peaceful unconsciousness.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note**

**This chapter is written from Naomi's POV and concentrates on the scene of her first meeting with Emily's mother. Please keep the reviews coming - any criticism is welcomed!**

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I woke up early the next morning having slept like the proverbial log – not that I can recall off hand which fucking proverb it is that actually refers to a log! My mind was still occupied in trying to drag out of its darkest recesses the sweet images and visions I had been dreaming of during the night of me and Emily getting back together again this morning. I was mightily relieved to discover that my resolve of the previous evening had not weakened overnight. I sprang out of bed with more speed, vigour and purpose than I had done for some considerable time although of course that may have had something to do with not waking up next to Emily. I was prepared to concede that possibility as a reason for my unusually prompt rising.

I showered, dressed and moved swiftly into the kitchen to grab a hasty but much needed breakfast of toast and tea. Mum wasn't up yet for which I was extremely grateful. I needed peace and quiet to compose myself and to think through exactly what I was going to say to Ems when she answered my ring at the door.

Whilst I was confident that the _way _in which I would tell her of my change of mind about going to the ball wouldn't be as important to her as _what_ I would be saying, nonetheless I didn't want to screw things up just because I hadn't thought everything through properly first. So there I sat in the kitchen eating my breakfast and rehearsing what I was going to say just like I was learning my lines for a school play in which I was cast in one of the leading roles and for which I was expected to be word perfect.

Once I was satisfied that I had pretty much nailed that particular scene in my mind, I got up, grabbed my bag and left the house with more than a hint of a spring in my step. I just prayed that stage fright and nerves wouldn't kick in to overwhelm and paralyze me as I got nearer to Emily's house. Either I had the benefit of a following tail wind or I was afraid to drag out the journey any longer than necessary but I reached Emily's house in next to no time and found myself standing by the front door almost before I knew it.

There didn't appear to be any tell-tale sounds of life and activity coming from within the house so I reckoned that everyone had to be still in bed. I shot an involuntary, instinctive glance up at what I knew to be Emily and Katie's bedroom. I took a few deep breaths, swallowed hard and told myself to calm down, not to panic and just execute the plan precisely as I had prepared it only a short time ago. Nothing could surely be simpler, could it?

So why was I still standing there like a complete idiot and not pressing my finger firmly and confidently on the front door bell? Why had I continued to look up at Emily's bedroom as if I was waiting for her to make the first move? What did I expect to happen? Did I imagine that she would have some female intuition that I was standing there outside her bedroom window and that she would suddenly wake up, open the window, climb out and slide down the drainpipe to join me?

Fuck knows how long I would have stayed rooted to the spot, paralysed and embarrassingly vacant of thought and deed if all of a sudden the door hadn't opened and a woman hadn't rushed out, almost bumping into me and knocking me over in her haste. She was a tall, slim woman with long dark hair and dressed professionally, that much I was able to take in at first glance. The only other instant impression she made on me was that she had to be Emily's mother.

She instantly smiled warmly at me and apologised for almost mowing me down, explaining that she was always in a rush. She seemed very nice, I thought, at first sight and I could sort of see Emily in her face, particularly in her eyes and her genuine smile. But when I introduced myself as 'a friend of Emily's' in swift response to her obvious failure to recognize me as someone she'd met before I noticed an immediate change in her expression and demeanour which was as startling as it was unexpected.

She appeared shocked and almost disorientated and, after glancing nervously at her watch, invited me in. I thought that was a bit odd, seeing as how she seemed initially to be in a big hurry to go somewhere, but after a little gentle persuasion by her I accepted, albeit with an inexplicable sense of foreboding and anxiety. Why had she so suddenly changed tack and altered her plans just because of me? There could be no other explanation for it but what was her motive? What could she want to speak to me about? My mind was desperately searching for a possible answer but nothing was coming forward.

She brought me through into the kitchen and invited me politely but firmly, I thought, to sit down. Her face was now betraying a solemn and serious expression as she eyed me up and I started to feel distinctly uncomfortable and worried as I sat down opposite her at the table. I couldn't shake off the nagging feeling that I had been lured against my better judgement in to some sort of trap from which I might find it difficult to escape intact and unhurt. All my earlier confidence and optimism had vanished into thin air and I could almost feel myself shrink in her presence, so quickly had her initial warmth and friendliness turned to coldness and suspicion.

On sitting down I immediately tried to explain that I had come to see Emily but I had barely got the words out when she cut right across me and said 'Emily's impressionable.'

Not only did she stop me in mid sentence, she also managed to render me speechless for a good few seconds with the strangeness of her remark and the stark coldness of her delivery. I looked at her in utter confusion and bewilderment, my mouth open and my eyes wide as I struggled to comprehend what she hell she was driving at. 'What?' That simple question was all I managed to come out with in response.

Mrs Fitch then launched into some spiel about Ems being the younger sister and so was always in Katie's shadow and that meant Katie was in charge. I listened to her intently to begin with but after a while I couldn't help thinking, 'Yes, I know all about that. I _have_ met them both, you stupid woman. Where the fuck is all this leading to? Have you turned on your heels and come back inside simply to tell me this load of old bollocks?'

She ended up by saying that Emily was just trying to be different from her sister (what, by being nice, shy, funny, beautiful, in short anything but a complete bitch, you mean?) at which point I couldn't stop myself asking her outright, with a stunned look on my face which complimented my words perfectly

'I don't know what we're talking about here.'

Her response, delivered with deliberately slow, heavy, emphatic tones, sent a shiver shooting up my spine and almost made me gasp out loud at the controlled ferocity of her words.

'Yes you do.'

I tried to return her stern gaze but couldn't hold it for long before averting my eyes and staring down at the floor. My heart grew heavier and I was sure she could hear it thumping like a huge bass drum. She continued in the same vein with the same steely cold look in her eyes and the same measured menace in her voice.

'I want you to stop putting ideas into her head. She's not gay!'

'I'm not gay!' My response came out of my mouth before I could even begin to stop it, like an irresistible force meeting an immoveable object. I don't know where the righteous outrage which accompanied those words came from, somewhere deep in the very dark pit of my soul, but I was at once shocked and ashamed to hear myself speak in that way.

'Right! So there's nothing to worry about then, is there?' She seemed to become a touch calmer and less fearsome all of a sudden, as if reassured by my fierce denial of the appalling truth. She started banging on about how both Emily and Katie were the apple of their Dad's eye, how he really loved them and how he just wanted them to be normal, happy twins. I was still listening to her but emotionally I felt like I was a million miles away as overwhelming feelings of self-loathing, shame and self-pity grabbed hold of me and shook me up and down until I could hardly breathe.

When she finished off her triumphant little speech by claiming that the twins were more alike than I would ever know, for some peculiar reason some of my former confidence and resolve mysteriously and gloriously returned from wherever it had slunk off to in hiding ever since I arrived at the house. Quick as a flash, with my eyes burning like fire for the first time since I'd met her, I replied with the merest trace of a self-satisfied smirk on my face as I said it.

'Are you sure of that?'

Well that could have gone down better, I had to admit. That short little comment, which represented the sum total of my attempts to hold my ground in this unequal struggle with the seriously scary woman sitting opposite me, which represented just about the only thing I'd said to her in five minutes of which I could feel justifiably proud, seemed to hit a raw nerve. Mercilessly she applied the coup de grace to end this Amazon-like bout of jousting from which there emerged but one clear runaway winner.

'I want you to disappear now, Naomi. DON'T SCREW HER UP!'

I sat there just gawping at her, crushed, battered and bruised. I felt numb from head to toe from all manner of emotions – pain, hurt, shame, embarrassment, despair to name just a few. My legs had turned to jelly and although she was inviting me to take my leave of her, albeit without the traditional farewell hugs and kisses you normally get from your hostess, I felt powerless to move. She obviously sensed my inertia and immobility and kindly helped me on my way.

'GOODBYE, NAOMI!!'

With that parting shot I hauled myself away from the table with an almost indecent haste and a superhuman effort and practically ran out of the house that had quickly become the scene of one of the least finest hours of my life to date.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note**

**This chapter takes in the meeting between Naomi & Katie in the coffee shop. There are ****two ****separate and distinct versions of this scene interplayed here, alternating between Katie's POV and Naomi's. Let me know if you think the structure of playing them out 'side by side' worked or not!**

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I couldn't believe Naomi fell for it so easily. OK, I know I kept my actual words to an absolute minimum on the phone and I reckon if we'd have had a much longer conversation she would surely have twigged it eventually. But even so, what a plank! So she's shagging my sister and yet she mistakes _me_ for her on the phone! It's not as if we have identical voices, after all - hers is much deeper than mine (I wonder if that's partly why Naomi likes her?! Does Ems remind her of a boy?) Wow, she really knows my sister well, doesn't she?

Anyway, she's coming over to meet me here for a coffee and she's going to get the shock of her life when she finds out how I've tricked her. She's not going to be too pleased, that's for sure, which in turn is going to be fucking hilarious to watch! We've never got on, **obviously, **and I doubt if we would have got on even if she hadn't been screwing around with Ems. She's just a stuck-up, smart-arse cow and I've never liked her even when we were in junior school together..

I should have done something about her ages ago but I let it go for Em's sake. It's gone too far now though, ever since Ems was stupid enough to tell Mum and Dad about the two of them. Enough is enough. It's time for action now; harsh words have simply not done the trick in getting the Campbell bitch out of our lives. And thanks to Freddie filling me in on her shag with JJ, I've got all the ammunition I need to shoot her down once and for all. That girl's not getting up after I've finished with her! She's going down and she's staying down! Just a few more minutes and it'll be 'Bye Bye Campbell.'

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I knew I'd fucked up my exam by walking out but frankly that was the last thing on my mind right now. Ems had agreed to meet me and I can finally tell her that I love her and that I'll come to the ball with her! I was beginning to think she never wanted to speak to me again. I'd tried a couple of times to phone her since my recent run-in with Cruella de Vil (aka her Mum) but she hadn't taken any of my calls. Thank God she finally picked up this one! I thought she sounded a bit short with me when we spoke so I'm feeling nervous all over again. In fact I'm absolutely shitting myself with fear and worry but I'm determined to ride it out. I'm not running away from this particular Fitch any more! No way Jose!

As I turn the corner and see the coffee shop just a few yards in front of me I slow down a touch and start taking some deep breaths to compose myself. I hope to God she's already there, I don't think I could bear sitting in that shop waiting on my own for more than a minute. I can feel my stomach churning, my heart positively pounding and my palms sweating. I must come across as a really attractive proposition! What gorgeous redhead in her right mind would want to turn me down as her date for the Love Ball?

I arrive at the door and, to my enormous relief, through the window I can see her already sitting at a table. Her back is turned towards me but her unmistakeable mane of beautiful shocking red hair is a dead giveaway. Come on, girl. Go for it! This is your moment! Seize it now!

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I hear the door open behind me and, without even needing to turn round, I know instinctively it's her. A few seconds later I hear her call out Emily's name in a very soft, shaky voice and only at that point do I condescend to take off my dark glasses and turn round, very slowly and very deliberately. I am unable to suppress a huge triumphant grin from breaking out across my face from ear to ear as I see how stunned she is to realise that it's me and not Ems waiting for her here.

She obviously works out in a flash how she's been tricked because she asks me in a steady but accusing tone whether it was me on the phone that she'd been speaking to a short while ago. Not that she needed to be Brain of Britain to suss that one out. I choose not to answer her question directly, contenting myself with remarking that it was Emily's fault for leaving her phone lying around for anyone to pick up. I think that's quite a nice touch on my part, actually, putting most of the blame for this neat little set-up on Ems. I know _that _will hurt Naomi even more than if she just had herself to blame for having fallen for such a simple deception.

I invite her to join me at the table, an invitation which she accepts with an obvious reluctance and with a sullen scowl which she makes no effort to conceal. I'm acutely aware of an intense thrill of anticipation creeping through my body as I prepare to launch into what has all the potential to be the mother of all humiliations for 'la belle Naomi'. She sits down and, after staring at me in silence for a few seconds, asks me quite simply what this all is in aid of.

'Leave her alone, she's mine.' I reply with what I hope is an understated menace. I intend to give the bleached blonde bitch every opportunity to walk right into the knockout punch if it's at all possible. She screws up her face and says quite calmly,

'She can't help what she is, Katie….. Neither can I.'

Bingo! What a brilliant 'straight man' she would make!! She's delivered the set up line to perfection and I have no option but to follow instantly with the punch line. Not to do so would be to disrespect her role in this little drama that we are acting out here. She has played her part so far faultlessly but now it's my turn to take centre stage and get all the attention and accolades that the leading actress deserves.

'Well, it seemed like she could help it when she was fucking JJ!'

Wallop. She didn't stand a chance. She never even saw the punch coming. It screamed into her face before she had the slightest chance to duck out of the way. She appears momentarily stunned, lifted virtually off her feet, her eyes are rolling in utter confusion, trying to focus on something, anything so as not to fall crashing to the floor.

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I enter the shop and nervously call out her name. She turns round, taking off a pair of dark glasses as she does so and immediately to my utter amazement and horror I see that it's Katie. My mouth drops open and I make a brave attempt to hide my anger with a shake of my head and a wry smile at the sight of the smugly grinning twin. The bitch has fitted me right up and has made me look a complete fool. I know instantly that she must have pretended to be Emily on the phone, which she proceeds to cheerfully confirm, though not in so many words, when I accuse her. I walk round to sit down opposite her, intrigued as I am, despite being fucking furious with her, by what the purpose of this deception might be.

When I coldly ask her what this is about she looks me squarely in the eyes and tells me to leave Ems alone because 'she's mine.' I reckon it's time the stupid bitch was told a very simple truth so I spell it out to her quite calmly so that even she can understand.

'She can't help who she is, Katie.' I decide to tell her the whole truth, not just part of it. 'Neither can I.' I was feeling pretty confident and good about myself at that point, a state of mind which was to last for about the time it took her to make her next remark and bring my whole world crashing down.

'Well, it seemed like she could help it when she was fucking JJ!'

I swear my heart stops beating as those words reverberate inside my brain. I shake my head and look at her in disbelief. All I can manage to come out with is 'What?'

When Katie goes on to say how keen JJ is on her 'after she saw to him good and proper' I start to feel sick to the pit of my stomach. I shake my head a second time but wholly unconvincingly at the smug, gloating twin opposite me who allows the tiniest of smiles to hover over her lips.

'It's not true,' I protest, yet instinctively I know full well it must be true. Why would Katie lie? It would be relatively easy for me to find out quickly if she was and then what purpose would that lie have served? No, the bitch must be telling the truth. No-one could look that pleased with herself, that triumphant and superior if it wasn't true.

'You hurt her. Now she doesn't want you.' Katie hit the nail on the head there, alright. There was more than just a ring of truth in that comment. Yes, undeniably I had hurt Emily many times. All those occasions when I had spurned her attempts to be friends in the beginning and tried to avoid her or, much worse than that, when I had left her alone in our bed because I was too scared to face up to the truth of my growing feelings for her the next morning.

I can't look Katie in the eyes any more as I ask her why she's being so horrible. Her reply comes back like a dagger to my already breaking heart.

'BECAUSE I LOVE HER MORE THAN YOU EVER CAN!'

Not true! No way is that true! Not in a million years. Not after what Katie has just done, not after ratting on her own sister like that. How can she possibly claim to love Emily more than I do when she's done something that Ems would be so hurt to find out about? As devastated and as betrayed as I feel, all my anger for the moment is directed at Katie rather than Emily. My mind is in a tailspin and is nose-diving at full speed straight for oblivion. I barely take in her parting threat, delivered with a knowing raise of an eyebrow, about what will happen to me if I should show up at the ball. She leaves the shop, pausing briefly outside merely to turn one final malevolent stare on me as I sit motionless in a complete daze, on the brink of bursting uncontrollably into tears and unsure whether I have the strength left in me to get up out of my seat.

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She tries to pretend she doesn't believe me but I can tell she's just kidding herself. She knows it's true, I can see it in her eyes and the eyes never lie. A world of pain suddenly lights up in those deep blue, swimming pool eyes and I can see that my revelation has hit her hard - just like I was hit hard by Effy. Although in my case it was a rock but at least _my _scars will heal pretty soon!

I tell her that she's brought it on herself really as she's hurt Ems so many times that she can hardly be surprised that Ems has given up on her and found someone else. Not just some other girl though, but a guy, and not just any other guy, but JJ!! She's lost out to the freak, the one guy who would never normally get any girl to sleep with him because he's such a weirdo. That must be the crowning humiliation for her!

As I can see she's emotionally down on the canvas, well I might as well stick the boot in to make sure she can't get up. When she asks me why I'm being so horrible (is she serious? I could have made it much worse if I'd really tried) I point out to her the one inescapable fact that she can't deny – that I love Emily more than she ever can.

Now that I've sorted out Campbell good and proper I can get Ems back where she belongs – with me. I'm furious with myself for having ever let it get this far but thank God I've managed to stop it going any further. There's surely no way those two will get back together now that I've broken the news about Ems and JJ. What self respecting lezza would cheerfully live with that sort of betrayal? No, they're finished!

Just to make damn certain Miss Smart Arse has got the message I warn her as I take my leave that she had better stay well away from the ball if she knows what's good for her. But it's probably an unnecessary precaution. The girl doesn't look like she's got the stomach for a fight any more; she looks well beaten, battered and bruised. She fucking deserved it! She tried to take my sister away from me and nobody gets away with that. After all, would you just stand idly by and allow someone to cut your right arm off? I DON'T THINK SO!


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note**

**This chapter is my interpretation of the scene where Freddie and JJ come to collect the twins to take them to the ball. It is described through the eyes of Mr Fitch as I thought it would be fun to have a go at getting inside his head. Please do let me know what you thought of it –good or bad! **

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The doorbell rang and I shouted out 'I'll get it' and went to open the door. When I opened it the two boys were standing on the doorstep, side by side, both dressed very smartly in their dark evening suits. However that's where the similarities between them started and ended as it was blindingly obvious to me that the pair of them were like chalk and cheese.

The taller guy was clearly the more confident one as it was he who immediately introduced both himself and his friend to me. He was a pretty good looking lad, I suppose I had to grudgingly admit. He was well groomed, he looked good in his suit and he seemed relaxed and comfortable with himself. He said his name was Freddie.

I thought he did look a bit on the scrawny side, though. He could do with a few lung-busting sessions at my gym to build up his pecs and to tone his body a bit more. Maybe I'll have a word with him about that later and see what I can do for him **– if** he behaves himself with my girls, of course. If he steps out of line with either of them by so much as one inch, he won't be needing a fitness trainer until long after he's got out of hospital.

I shook hands with him and noted that it was a very firm and confident handshake and that he didn't have sweaty, nervous palms. He also maintained eye contact with me even though I was deliberately fixing a very piercing stare on him to see how he reacted to it. . That was impressive, I thought. So far, he's conducted himself well. The lad shows promise. If he is feeling at all intimidated by me, and I wouldn't blame him if he was, then he's hiding it well.

As for the other boy, Jesus Christ!! Where did they get him from?! I could tell straight away with just a quick glance that he had probably never taken a girl out anywhere in his life. He was the complete opposite to his mate Freddie. He looked so frightened and nervous I thought he was going to piss himself on the spot. He was wearing a smart suit like Freddie but he gave the impression he had never worn one in his life before. He looked so uncomfortable in it that it was almost as if he was wearing a nappy that hadn't been changed for a week!

As I turned towards him after Freddie had done the introductions, I could see his eyes glaze over and he seemed to be holding his breath. He appeared a complete bag of nerves which immediately made me very suspicious of him. What the fuck had he been up to with my girls? I'm going to keep my eyes on him like a hawk. Already I didn't trust him and yet he didn't seem to be the sort of lad who would know what to do with a girl even if he managed to pull one. I just couldn't quite figure him out and I didn't like that one little bit. Rob Fitch likes to be in control and on top of everything but this JJ – what the fuck does JJ stand for, anyway? - might prove to be a hard act to read.

I invited them in and closed the door behind them. I thought I ought to make some routine small talk with them to put them at their ease so I told them the girls were still getting ready and that if they weren't both still virgins tomorrow I'd hunt the boys down like dogs. I think it worked. They both smiled at me, doubtless relieved to know what was happening at the moment and where they stood generally with me. I tend to find people appreciate it when I'm open and honest with them. After all, what could be worse than assuring some horny little fuckers that you won't break their legs if they mess with your girls, only to find you have no option but to do so later?

I showed them in to the living room, introduced them to the wife, Jenna, and invited them to sit down on the sofa. Jenna got them something to drink while they were waiting for Katie and Emily and then came back to sit next to me. As usual I let Jenna do all the talking while I just sat there quietly, smiling continuously at the boys in what I hoped came over as a friendly and reassuring manner.

I always tend to let Jenna do the talking as I'm a man of few words. I'm more a 'physical' kind of guy, if you know what I mean, so I prefer to let my actions do the talking for me. My body is my temple and speaks volumes for the sort of man I am. You can see right away that I'm not a guy to be messed with. Harsh words never hurt anybody in my book but a right fucking good kicking tends to get the message across, I've always found.

After a short uncomfortable silence- at least for the two boys, I guessed, I was fine with it – this JJ broke the ice by commenting on how long the girls were taking to get ready. Jenna smiled at them and said how that gave her and me a chance to get to know the two of them. Immediately JJ started giggling nervously like a big girl and wouldn't look me or Jenna in the eyes. My suspicions of him at first sight now grew stronger and I couldn't stop staring at the little runt. His mate Freddie looked at him anxiously as if he was afraid what JJ was going to do or say next. He wasn't the only one, I can tell you!

Jenna asked JJ if he knew Emily well and his reply came out at first in such a high pitched squeal that I thought his voice was going to break. He said 'Pretty well' and when Jenna commented how we'd never heard her mention him before he just said something mysterious about it being a bit of a secret and giggled like a school girl again. I couldn't take my eyes off him as his nervousness and discomfort was so transparent to all of us that it was becoming quite entertaining and comical.

The big fella apologised for him by explaining that he was a bit shy and put his arm round his shoulder as if to comfort him. When Jenna smiled at JJ in sympathy and said 'I can see that. It's written all over your face,' the soft lad then seemed to go into some sort of uncontrollable nervous fit. He began stuttering and babbling randomly, saying stuff that made no sense at all. He seemed to be trying to say that he didn't do anything, then that he did but that everything was okay, it was all completely safe and nothing to be worried about.

I hadn't got a fucking clue what he was going on about. All I knew was that I was even more suspicious and worried than before about letting him anywhere near my two sweet innocent girls, but there didn't appear to be a damn thing I could do. I had to hope that this Freddie character would take control of him and make sure he didn't do anything that would have me at his throat in the morning. Freddie did appear to be a much more stable and, well, normal boy and I guess I had to pin my trust in him to keep an eye on this JJ and make sure he behaved himself.

It looked as if the two of them were close mates, though, so how much comfort I could take from Freddie's normal behaviour was hard to tell. Besides, this JJ could be putting on a big act, pretending to come across as a shy, nervous weirdo who wouldn't know what the hell to do with a girl if he got one alone with him. Who knows, he could be a right little womaniser on the quiet, I thought to myself. What do they say - the quiet ones are always the worst? Or is it 'the fucking loonies are always the worst?' I could never remember.

Fortunately, just when the nervous silence was threatening to become deafening, the girls appeared in the room. They both looked absolutely stunning in their matching ball dresses and the wife got quite emotional when she saw them standing side by side and almost burst into tears of pride. Even I had to admit to feeling a small tug on the old heart strings when I saw them looking so beautiful. They sure do take after me. They're their Dad's girls, alright!

The two boys just sat and stared at the twins, their mouths open so wide a whole swarm of flies could have flown in and taken up residence inside the pair of them. Their eyes were goggling in disbelief and all they could manage to say by way of a compliment to Katie and Emily was 'Wow!' which they delivered in perfect unison.

I turned my head back round to face them and smiled at them in a friendly, approving sort of manner. I hoped they were getting the message I was trying to put across to them with that one simple, innocent-looking grin

'Enjoy yourselves tonight, guys! But if I get to hear that either of you little fuckers have done anything to either of my girls that 't like the sound of, I _will_ beat the living crap out of you.'


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note**

**This chapter is my interpretation of the final Love Ball scene as I imagine it being seen through Naomi's eyes. This will also be the ****last ****chapter in this story so it is your final chance to let me know what you thought of the story as a whole as well as this chapter. All reviews are most welcome but I hope some of you at least enjoyed this story while it lasted! **

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I had completely lost track of time since I got home and threw myself on my bed in tears. I must have been lying there for a good few hours replaying in my mind countless times the conversation I'd had with Katie in the coffee bar that afternoon. The bombshell she'd told me about Emily sleeping with JJ had exploded in my mind and in my heart and I had been desperately trying to make sense of it, hanging on to every little fragment of reason and logic that I could find.

Of course I knew that Katie had revealed this secret deliberately with the express purpose of upsetting me and torturing me. Presumably she imagined that by ratting on her sister and spilling the beans like that she would succeed in putting the final nail in the coffin of my relationship with Emily. So in one sense I could see that to react in the usual jealous way by deciding to finish with Ems for sleeping with someone else would be letting Katie win. If there was one thing I was simply not prepared to allow to happen was to let that bitch of a Fitch get the better of me.

But I couldn't ignore the fact that Emily had slept with JJ and it was this that had been preoccupying me for the last hour or two. How did I really feel about it? Well, of course I wasn't happy, who would have been? But _could _I understand why she might have done it? Was it to hurt me like Katie said? 'You hurt her so now she doesn't want you any more.' Those were Katie's precise words – did they speak the truth or were they yet another of Katie's cruel lies? In my heart of hearts I didn't really believe Emily did it to spite me. The Emily I knew and had fallen for just wasn't like that, I knew for a hundred percent certain.

So why would she have slept with JJ and did it make a difference that it was JJ and not someone else? Here I wasn't on quite such confident ground but I thought I could make a case for Ems. JJ was a good friend of Ems, I knew that and that was fine. I wouldn't have been totally surprised to find out that he quite fancied her. She was the sort of person who always wanted to help others, who always tried to see the good in people and who had a genuinely kind and warm heart. It wasn't so ridiculous, I reasoned, that she might have agreed to sleep with him if he asked her. Was it?! Could she have done that out of …..what?.....pity or as a favour to him?

But what about me? Could she have done it confident in the knowledge that I would be okay with it if I should ever find out? Did she ever intend to tell me about it? I mean how did Katie know about it? Emily surely can't have told her herself so JJ must have let it slip perhaps without meaning to. That would be typical of JJ – he could always be counted on to let slip a secret when he was locked on or was feeling under pressure or stressed out!

Did it hurt more or less that it was JJ? Would I have felt worse if it had been Cook or Freddie? Instinctively I knew the answer to that was a big fat YES. For whatever reason I felt less threatened by JJ than either of the other two. Maybe because I just couldn't see JJ as someone who Emily could love more than me, who she would want to be with like that rather than me. It made far more sense that she was just helping him out as he was always so lacking in confidence with girls and she was the only girl he knew who wouldn't make a big deal out of it. YES! THAT MUST BE IT! She didn't sleep with JJ to hurt me back, she did it as purely as a friend to make him happy.

But why didn't she tell me? Didn't she trust me not to overreact, not to see it the way she did? Maybe the way I had been feeling for the last couple of hours and the thoughts that had been going through my mind was proof that she couldn't be sure. After all, I had hurt her so many times before by running away from her that I was bound to think she would eventually do something to hurt me and show me how much she had suffered ay my hands.

But the bottom line was that I still felt the same way about her as I did before I knew about JJ. Not even knowing she had slept with JJ could change that, I knew that. It might have very different if she had slept with some other guy or another girl, for sure, but she hadn't. I didn't actually feel betrayed, just upset that I had found out about it the way I did. And for that I had only Katie to blame – that cow hadn't liked me from the start and now I would be letting her win if I allowed her to come between me and Ems. No fucking way is that nasty little bitch going to win! Over my dead body!

I was now surging with a passionate loathing for Katie and I knew what I had to do to get my revenge. I was going to go to the ball and laugh in her face. I would find Emily and tell her how much she meant to me and prove to Katie that her sly little plans were not going to work. Come on girl, get up on your feet and doll yourself up! You've got a girl to fight for!

An hour later I was dressed to kill in the best outfit I could find for the occasion and I left home feeling confident about what I was doing and why I was doing it. I was on a mission and I felt like nothing was going to stop me or get in my way! I made my way to college with something almost approaching a spring in my step.

I couldn't wait to see Katie's face when I turned up to claim Emily for my own. I knew the two of them would be going together. That much was obvious from what Katie said in the coffee shop – after all who else did that cow have to go with? She'd lost Freddie so all she had left was Ems who I expect she would have bullied into going with her just so she didn't completely lose face.

I was still enjoying this image of a totally pissed off and screwed up Katie seeing me arrive at the Ball when I approached the entrance to the college. It was then that I saw something that shook me to the very core of my being, which felt like a real kick in the stomach that I just hadn't seen coming from a mile off. As I stood at the bottom of the steps leading up to the college entrance, I was met with the sight of Emily and Katie – not on their own though: they were together with JJ and Freddie, all four of them dressed up in their Love Ball finest. This was absolutely not what I was expecting and it completely threw me.

I felt almost punch drunk and for what seemed like a lifetime I just stood rooted to the spot, not quite believing the sight in front of me. Eventually I managed to recover a modicum of poise and composure and walked slowly up the steps, my eyes fixed on the four of them who were in almost a group huddle. There was barely an expression on my face as I struggled to conceal from them the turmoil raging inside of me. I could see Emily smiling weakly and nervously at me as I arrived at the top of the steps. I forced myself to smile back and then I just let my emotions take over as someone else almost seemed to be doing the talking for me.

'Ah, how sweet! Out on a foursome.' I looked directly at JJ who looked suitably nervous and embarrassed, as well he might, I thought.

'Look at you, JJ. Suave! ….. Well it should be fun. Emily's great in the sack, isn't she JJ?'

JJ could do nothing else but splutter helplessly and struggle to find the right words to answer me.

He tried manfully to say something appropriate but gave up in the end. I almost felt sorry for him but he was standing where I should have been – with my girl, so I couldn't forgive him right at that moment.

Emily turned a sad and apologetic face towards me and said 'Naomi, I wanted to tell you.' I was fighting the tears back with real difficulty as I looked right into her eyes which seemed to reveal a world of pain and sorrow and replied.

'Yeah? But you didn't, did you…….hon?'

I could see her eyes welling up also as I sniffed back the tears and gathered what remained of my self-control and strength to take my leave of them.

'If you'll excuse me…..' I said and walked past them and over towards the college entrance. I couldn't bring myself to look back, even though I was desperate to see Emily's reaction to my dramatic exit, and I went inside the building leaving God knows what fallout behind me.

I had barely set foot inside the college, my mind still in a daze and not really sure where I was going, when Katie suddenly came at me from nowhere. She almost literally threw herself at me and was all over me like a rash, slapping and pushing me around the room, from pillar to post. We ended up in one of the classrooms, I think, and we were right at each others throats, trading every conceivable insult we could think of and screaming at each other in pure mutual hatred.

God knows how long it would have gone on for, probably until the last one of us was standing, I expect, when Emily suddenly appeared at the door. She had timed it perfectly – right at the moment when I accused Katie of blabbing to me about JJ merely out of spite and because she loved doing it and Katie told me that Emily deserved it.

Emily looked at Katie with a look of real disgust and sadness at what she's said and turned on her heels. When Katie predictably went after her to stop her from walking away, pleading with her not to go, I could see Emily suddenly stop, turn round and launch herself at her twin. Within seconds a new catfight had begun between the pair of them but this one threatened to put the one I had just had with Katie well and truly in the shade.

When two sisters fight it's usually bad enough, but two twin sisters with a real issue at stake and several points to prove, well I just felt overwhelmed and weak at the knees. I sat down on one of the tables and tried to breathe deeply as my head was spinning like a top and my emotions were getting the better of me. I needed time to take stock of all that happened in the last five minutes. I felt as if my life had just flashed by me.

After a while I had composed myself enough to think about leaving the room and search for Ems and Katie. I needed to help Emily – I couldn't bear the thought of Katie beating her up as she had tried to do to me. I went outside and instantly heard a terrific commotion coming from the room where the ball was being held – and I wasn't just talking about the music, either. I guessed the fight was still in progress and so I went into the room with much trepidation about what I would find.

I saw the pair of them in the middle of the room still going at each other like a couple of wild animals but I felt paralysed to go and intervene. It suddenly struck me that in fact not only _could _I not get involved in their fight but that I shouldn't get involved. It dawned on me that this was one battle Emily had to take on herself without me by her side. She needed to prove something to her twin - that she could stand up for herself and didn't need her any more. She had to show she was her own person and if a catfight to demonstrate this truth then so be it. I had to let it be. I just stood to one side with all the others who had gathered round to watch this unexpected cabaret act which had taken them utterly by surprise.

Emily must have been spurred on by an almighty rush of enraged adrenalin as within moments she had Katie on the floor and was sitting on top of her, completely overpowering her sister, who was struggling to keep her at bay. Just at the moment when I thought Emily was going to administer the final knockout blow she stopped, looked down at Katie and slowly got to her feet and helped her sister up. It was if she had already made her point and going on to the final punch would have been a waste of effort and totally unnecessary.

They looked at each other for a few seconds and I held my breath, not daring to guess what they were going to say to each other. But as it turned out Emily's voice was soft and apologetic towards her sister who likewise seemed becalmed by what had just happened. Ems told Katie that she couldn't do this any more, that she was her own person, that she wasn't Katie. I was cheering at the top of my voice inside my head and willing her to carry on, even as I stood just a few feet away, my eyes riveted by the scene before me. Emily didn't even seem to notice the huge crowd of people who had formed a circle of spectators around the two of them.

Ems took off her ball dress as if to emphasise the meaning of what she had just said about not being Katie. She looked right at a contrite and sheepish Katie and told her she loved her and would never really leave her but that she couldn't 'fix this'. Fix what, I wondered. Why is she talking in riddles now? But it soon became clear what she meant and my heart stated to sing out loud as she went on to tell her sister the words that I think I shall remember until the day I die.

'I like girls. No,…..I like a girl…….No,….I love her. OK? I love……..'

Ignoring the gasps and murmurs that went around the room from the audience, she looked right past Katie's shoulder and fixed her eyes on me. I felt them melting my heart which was thumping so loud it would have drowned the music had is still been playing. She extended her arm out full and pointed her hand straight towards me as she said the magic word 'Her'. I stood there watching _my _Emily declare her love for me in front of the whole college. I had never felt so happy or so proud of anyone in my whole life and I knew exactly how to respond in turn. I stood where I was but held out my hand towards Ems, inviting her to join me and proudly proclaim our love for each other.

She looked back at Katie and said 'OK' one last time as if to give her a chance to accept the truth of what Ems had just told her which Katie did, albeit meekly and with a fair degree of embarrassment. Ems then calmly walked over to my still outstretched hand and looked up at me with a certain degree of nervousness as if still seeking my approval that she had done the right thing. I turned a huge smile on her which was meant to show her that she had and then, to an increasing round of applause and cheers, we slowly and calmly walked away between the crowds of clapping students (and teachers even, I think) and out of the room.

We didn't look back, either of us, but just carried on walking, still hand in hand, out through the college entrance and down the steps, leaving the rest of the entire world behind us. No-one else mattered a damn at that moment. We now officially had each other and that was enough for the two of us. We didn't speak a word until we were almost halfway down the steps.

'Some party,' I said, not even looking at Ems.

'Eventful,' she replied.

'Yes, 'I said and then, as if stating the most obvious fact in the whole world – well, it was bloody obvious to me, but I had to say it to Ems out loud, just to avoid any doubts, 'I love you too.'

Ems' simple reply after a second or two was all I needed to hear to make it the perfect end to ultimately the most perfect day of my life.

'I know'


	10. Author's Message!

AUTHORS' NOTE!

This is NOT a new chapter but a message to anyone who enjoyed the 'Series 3 Episode 9' story which I finished a couple of weeks ago.

I am thinking of doing a similar type of story on a different episode from Series 3. It was great fun doing the Episode 9 story as I didn't need to invent a totally original storyline but could still use my 'creative imagination' to write about what the characters might have been thinking and feeling during certain scenes in the episode.

If you would like to read a new story along the same lines please let me know by posting a review of this 'chapter' in the usual way. In fact it would be great if you could suggest a specific episode from Series 3 which you would particularly like me to write about.

I would love to hear your views and if a decent number of you would like me to go ahead with it then I will do so quite soon, probably when I have finished one of the other stories I am currently writing.

Thanks ever so much for your reviews and support and I hope some of you will let me know what you think of this suggestion!


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